Progress

I wonder if we spent more time celebrating all the good things we’ve done, rather than constantly focusing on all the bad things that are wrong with the world, would we actually get more done?

Would a more positive state of mind accelerate PROGRESS – for the planet and for each other?

Yes there is much to do. The UN sustainable development goals are pitifully far behind where they should be. But humans have also achieved some pretty amazing things over the last few decades.

• World hunger has dropped by half in the majority of the world since 2000.
• Just 28 years ago the majority of the world lived in autocratic states – today 49.3% enjoy some form of democracy.
• Renewable energy has gone from an innovative option to the cheapest form of energy.

And have you ever wondered how progress happens? How systemic change actually occurs?

Scientists have a word for it. “SMUBA”.

Seeing. Mapping. Understanding. Believing. Acting. (All systemic change goes through these 5 stages).

So the next time you find yourself on a mission to make the world work better: Think positively, study ‘SMUBA’ and remember the words of the great economist Rudi Dornbusch,

“Things usually take longer to happen than you think they will, but then they happen faster than you ever thought they could”.